Who Has a Dragon

Writers: Chelle, Mirren
Date Posted: 14th June 2012

Characters: Veerona, E'ron
Description: E'ron helps Veerona out when she gets left behind.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 8, day 19 of Turn 6

Trailing behind a gathering group, Veerona was stopping to fill her bucket
with the clams she was digging.
She hadn't noticed just yet how far behind the others she had gotten.
Instead, she was quite thrilled with
her half full bucket. Jylanya would be pleased at her skills. She was half
dirty from her knees down, but it
was not to be helped. Her arms weren't faring any better.

E'ron and Feykenth had been riding sweeps, but they were done for the day
when they flew over the gathering
party. Normally E'ron wouldn't pay much attention but he saw the girl
trailing behind and flew lower, worried
that she was a long way behind.

She heard the noise and thought it was a wild firelizard or something.
Looking up against the sun's glare,
Veerona saw the dragon. It didn't surprise her since they were so close to
the Weyr, but she started to get
nervous when it seemed to be getting closer and then she realized she was
quite far behind. Standing there
for a moment in indecision, she then started to run towards her group.
Unfortunately, running in the clam beds
wasn't easy and she ended up tripping and falling right into the muck.

Stunned for a moment, she pulled herself up, then couldn't help but start to
cry. She was completely filthy from
head to toe now.

Feykenth backwinged and landed close to her, but not close enough to land
_on_ her. E'ron slid down and walked
over to her, pulling his flight gloves off as he went. "Are you all right
kid?"

She didn't quite back away but she did sort of huddle, trying her best to
stop crying. She was being such a baby!
"I...I...messed everything up and now Lany's gonna be upset." Indeed she had
muck in her hair, on her clothing,
and on her skin.

"You only fell down," he said kindly, tucking his gloves into his back
pocket. "I bet some of that can be brushed
off." He crouched down beside her.

Then, she noticed some of her clams had come out of her bucket. Sighing, she
started to gather them again, the
tears streaking through the muck on her face. "I..let me go get a drink."
She had mud in her mouth, which wasn't
good. Getting up, she went to where the ocean water started and put some to
her mouth swishing the salt before
spitting. It didn't taste the greatest but it was better than mud. When she
was done, she came back to the rider
and her bucket, giving the dragon a sidelong glance. "I..I'm Veerona," she
offered shyly. Dragonriders were to be
trusted, she had been taught, so she was less reticent around them than
other strangers.

"E'ron," he replied, "It's nice to meet you Veerona. Do you need to catch up
with the others?" He looked after the
rest of the gathering party who were trudging on without the little girl.

She turned and saw them too and became even more upset. It was like they had
forgotten about her totally! "Oh no,
I'll never catch up now."

He put his fingers to his lips and pretended to look thoughtful. "Hmmm,
let's see now... If only we knew someone who had a dragon... You don't have
a dragon, do you Veerona?"

"No, but my father does." Of course she only knew of the bluerider. He had
never really figured in her life. "But he never comes here." Her face still
looked quite glum. She was going to get it now. Filthy and lost her group!

"Mmm," he said, struggling not to smile. "If only someone else around here
had one..."

Feykenth moved closer, trying to get into her line of sight.

"But I don't see a dragon around here," E'ron said, looking right at his.
"Do you?"

And then it dawned on her. Of course she tried to take credit like it was
her own idea. "You do!"

He looked at her in mock surprise. "I do? Really? Where?"

Feykenth moved his head closer to the girl and snorted.

"There!" She even got up and pointed, as if he was super silly for not even
seeing his own dragon. She completely forgot how big dragons were and how
scary. The bluerider wasn't afraid of him, so why should she be?

"Is that what that is?" he grinned. "I thought it was a funny looking
shrub!"

}:Hey!:{

**Sorry pal!**

She drew a blank since she didn't know what a shrub was. Still, he had
identified the dragon which was a step in the right direction. She didn't go
up to Feykenth, though. He was quite big and might squish her on accident.

All right, that hadn't quite come off right, E'ron realized. "So we have a
dragon," he said with a nod. "So how is he, his name is Feykenth by the way,
how is he going to help us," he pointed to himself and then her, "catch up
with them?" he pointed in the direction of the gathering party.

"Well he can fly-fast cause he's a blue. And they can't walk that fast." She
was pretty sure of that. She could run and still never catch a dragon.

"That's true," E'ron nodded slowly. "I don't think it would work if we sat
on his back and we walked. So what else do you suggest?"

"I told you-he can fly! You flew here right?" Vee shook her head and put her
hands on her hips, thinking him a very silly dragonrider. "And now we're
standin' here and they're gettin' further away."

"So what you're suggesting," he said slowly. "Is that we, you and I, get up
onto Feykenth and catch up to them that way?" He clicked his fingers.
"You're a smart girl Veerona! Have you even been on a dragon before?"

Her face fell. "No...but I rode a dolphin!" Maybe that helped. It meant she
could ride something anyway.

"Well then, riding a dragon will be a piece of cake. Can I help you up onto
his back?"

"Yeah," She put out her arms, intending for him to just carry her. That
would be easy enough. There was no way she could climb that thing with her
little short legs anyway.

He put his hands under her arms and swung her up onto Feykenth's back. He
then climbed up behind her and strapped them both in. "All right, I'm going
to put my arm around you. If you feel scared, just hang on to my arm, ok?"

"Okay!" She couldn't wait. Now she wasn't just a dolphin rider, but a
dragonrider too! Lany was not going to believe this one. Looking down at
Feykenth's neck, she watched the way the hide changed slightly in the sun.
The dragon wasn't slimy like the dolphins. He was smooth, but there were
bumps sort of. He was warm, too. She could even hear him breathing. Veerona
clutched her bucket to her, hoping she wouldn't lose it.

"Don't worry, we won't go too high," E'ron said in what he hoped was a
reassuring tone.

Feykenth leaped upward and started flying in the direction of the gathering
party, but never went more than a few meters off the ground. Still, the sand
below them did go past in a blur.

She could see the group and they were gaining on them fast. This was neat!
The wind did sort of blow her eyes some, but she didn't care! Flying was the
bestest thing ever! Opening her mouth, Vee screamed into the wind.

"Are you all right?" he called out, hoping it was a scream of excitement and
not fear.

"Yeah! This is great!" She kept screaming her head off for a little bit then
subsided, but her smile was huge. She almost forgot and dropped the bucket,
but remembered just in time. "That was close."

Feykenth did a little turn and back winged to land in front of the gathering
party.

"Here you go, now you have to wait for them!" E'ron grinned.

"That was neat. Can we do it again maybe?" Forget her fear of dragons. That
part of her life was over. Grabbing her bucket, she looked down and realized
there wasn't a way she could get down there really without help.

"We'll see," he replied. He put his arms up to her armpits and lifted her
down, depositing her safely on the sand. "There you go, safe and sound!"

"Thanks!" As an afterthought, she gave an awkward curtsy and blew a kiss to
Feykenth before scampering off to her group.

Last updated on the July 1st 2012

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